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Water availability via fog collectors, desalination, biosaline agriculture, rainwater harvesting
at community level and at the family and individual level

One of the great challenges remaining in this century is a lack in the availability of water. Water is all around us but reaching it or obtaining it in potable or, for that matter, in any form has remained a major problem. It is to the solution of this problem that this page is dedicated. About three fourths* of the planet is water and the atmospheric system is a constant recycler of water. There should be no water shortage at any time or in any place regardless of the distance from water or the growth of population.

This page will treat the following topics from the viewpoint of the small community and family for development at the local level to improve the water supply and usability situation. At the end under Resources, we have listed some of the major sources for understanding the global problem of water in conjunction with the year of fresh water as declared by the United Nations.

This page is made up of links to resources which may be of help in the initiation of increased water availability. We are highlighting three areas at present while we develop other areas. Some references will appear more than once in different sections. No matter what area you are interested in, be sure to see 'Overall Treatment of Water Resources' below.

Small-Scale Desalinators (Botswana) "This project tested 130 desalination units made up of two types of solar stills, two woodburning stills, and one reserve osmosis unit in the remote settlements of the Kgalagadi District of Botswana. The solar still technology was well accepted with the fibre glass Mexican still being very efficient and economical. Extensive training was given to end users, and to those in local and central government whose support was needed. Efforts focused on teaching remote area dwellers (through workshops, theatre and discussion) how to look after the stills and to share the water produced..."

Pilot solar desalination plants in Bangladesh (pdf) The article details the experimental construction of a constructed base and walls with different materials to contain the salt water and a glass top. The brick construction while more expensive was found to be more durable and provided a higher yield than then cement plastered clay.

Non-conventional solar stills with charcoal particles as absorber medium (pdf) Desalination 153 (2002) 55�64 "A solar still in which charcoal functions both as heat absorber medium and as wick has been constructed...[representing]... a 15% improvement in productivity over wick-type stills, is cheap, simple to construct, and in addition has the advantages of low thermal capacity, lightweight and ease of operation. It is made of plastic outer rectangular body in which salt water is allowed to percolate through a charcoal bed of particles that extends the length of the still, and above which a glass plate is made to cover the still at an optimum distance from the charcoal bed."

Improved System for Water Desalination by Solar Energy Prof. Gershon Grossman, Technion, Israel "...design generates circulation of the humid air. The air absorbs the humidity in a part of the still exposed to the sun, circulates and allows the humidity to condense in another, shaded part while preheating the feed water. Heat can be stored in the feed water so as to obtain additional evaporation and condensation that can continue after sunset and at night."

A solar desalination plant for domestic water needs in arid areas of South Algeria (pdf) Desalination 153 (2002) 65�69 A still which reuses vapor condensation heat through the use of a thin finely woven fabric held in contact with the glass plate which is saturated with input saline water and forms a thin capillary film. It is robust and can be installed in villages in developing countries with minimal technical expertise.

MIDDLE TECH SOLUTIONS

Solar Desalting

Solar Desalting/Water Treatment The WaTER Group has recently developed a Photovoltaic/Electrodialysis Reversal (PV/EDR) Solar Desalting System with very low power requirements. The system is capable of continuous, unattended operation and requires minimal maintenance. It successfully produced over 340 m3 (90,000 gallons) of potable water in a four month test period by demineralizing 900 mg/L TDS feedwater to 280 mg/L product water while using less than 100 watts of power. With its low power consumption, this technology has proven to be a cost-effective and reliable solution for remote sites and communities.

desalination by distillation "The multistage-flash (MSF), MED, and vapor-compression (VC) processes have led to the widespread use of distillation to desalinate seawater." Methods use the boiling of water to produce condensation. Source Book of Alternative Technologies for Freshwater Augmentation in Latin America and the Caribbean Unit of Sustainable Development and Environment, General Secretariat, Organization of American States, Washington, D.C., Details many different types of sources of useable water: freshwater augmentation, quality improvement, wastewater treatment, water conservation. Online OAS Source Book

Online OAS Source Book Source Book of Alternative Technologies for Freshwater Augmentation in Latin America and the Caribbean Unit of Sustainable Development and Environment, General Secretariat, Organization of American States, Washington, D.C., Details many different types of sources of useable water: freshwater augmentation, quality improvement, wastewater treatment, water conservation.

LIFESTREAM Watersystems Inc is a manufacturer of water purification systems specializing in reverse osmosis technology and the design of filtration systems. A major market served is the commercial marine industry with products for private yachts, fishing vessels, and work boats, oceanographic research vessels, barges and platforms and military vessels. Other large segments include land based systems for hotel and house complexes, private home "whole house" use and small communities, industrial systems for make-up water, equipment for oil platforms, equipment for disaster and emergency use, systems for wastewater treatment and many other commercial uses.

MESH COLLECTORS
Note: Currently gathering material on hard surface fog catchersLow tech fresh potable water supply for small communities, individuals in developing countries of potable water from mist, fog, wind through collectors, catchers, harvesting or tapping of clouds using a plastic mesh screen.

Lessons from El Tofo
"One is that fog collecting works. Proof of this can be found in the work of a new network of specialists who have taken this technology to arid areas across the globe. The other lesson is that understanding social conditions and securing the involvement and commitment of local people — a factor apparently given short shift here because of special circumstances — is always vital to the long-term viability of a development project."

Fog harvesting Source Book of Alternative Technologies for Freshwater Augmentation in Latin America and the Caribbean. UNEP - International Environmental Technology Centre, United Nations Environment Programme "Full-scale fog collectors are simple, flat, rectangular nets of nylon supported by a post at either end and arranged perpendicular to the direction of the prevailing wind..."

Fog Collection Tiempo - Issue 26, December 1997 Details selection of sites for fog collection, mentions a number of projects worldwide, and gives a brief overview of the topic.

Living in a Coastal Desert - The Chungungo Project BBC Weather. "There are now 75 collectors, each the size of a billboard taking more than 10,000 litres a day of water to the village." "- The fog collectors in Chungungo in northern Chile provide more than 40 litres of water per person per day - compared to 14 litres before the project began giving enough water for domestic consumption and also for a few hectares of vegetable gardens. Run by the community - The collectors are managed by a local committee, which provides the community with control over their water supply. "

FogQuest "FogQuest is an international, innovative, non-governmental, non-profit organization, which implements and promotes the environmentally appropriate, socially beneficial and economically viable use of fog, rain and dew as sustainable water resources for people in arid regions of developing countries" list of fog evaluation projects and projects which are completed or are underway. Funds from various sources.

Commercial

vapair.com Purified Water 'Out of Thin Air' Water Generating Machine "Produces 5-15 gallons per day on average, depending on humidity. 2 gallons in very dry climates...Needs no outside water source." See article in U.S. Water News Online Machine turns humidity into drinking water

CatchWater The CSE Campaign for People's Water Management. Article on Fog Collectors

HARD SURFACES

Beetle Juice Dr Andrew Parker of the University of Oxford and Dr Chris Lawrence of QinetiQ - Describing the discovery of a beetle which collected its own drinking water using its heard surfaced wings. "A surface of nodules coated with wax has strong water-repellent properties, like Teflon, while smooth, wax-free surfaces actually attract water. It was the combination of both surface types that gave the beetle the ability to drink in the Namib." Describing prototypes produced by The Defence Evaluation Research Agency (now QinetiQ) at Farnborough "The prototypes collected several times more water than can be collected by netting and was also more resilient."

Biosalinity Awareness Project advocating vegetative approaches to the rehabilitation of salt-affected lands for both commercial and environmental purposes. An independent, non-profit organization dedicated to promoting awareness of, and exploring solutions to, the pressing problems of salinity in our environment with a particular focus on biosaline agriculture and sustainable biomass production.

News piece on Saltwort "SALTWORT, a perennial bush that grows on salt marshes around the world, has unexpectedly turned out to be a nutritious food source. The plant could become a new crop for farmers whose land is too choked with salt to support ordinary crops"

Measurement of Salinity

Testing salinity of soils deals with testing the salinity of soil and the plants which will grow in different degrees of salinity

Links to salinity measurements. Department of Agriculure Western Australia.

Success stories in saline agriculture in Pakistan (pdf) "...giving examples of successes in translating techniques from the laboratory to the farming community. Examples are given of projects demonstrating the use of halophytic species for fodder and fuel production, and improvements due to new agronomic techniques and plant breeding." From research to production and development. BAC Saline Agriculture Conference: March 19-21, 2001 "Traditional plant breeding has successfully developed salt-tolerant varieties of several crops, while wide hybridisation has incorporated genes for tolerance from related species into wheat. However, to ensure that breeders produce what farmers need, it is important that farmers participate fully in the production of new varieties, and an example of a successful participatory trial from India is given."

The use of saline waters for crop production - FAO irrigation and drainage (paper 48 pp) Click on Table of Contents. "These guidelines are addressed primarily to those involved with irrigated agriculture, soil and water conservation, and environmental protection. Emphasis is on the avoidance of waterlogging and secondary salination problems (both in soils and water supplies) associated with irrigation."
Combat Desertification lining irrigation canals and feed irrigation. Technical paper giving tolerance of plants to salt and boron

Using saline water for irrigation Agnote. Discussion and Salinity tolerance in irrigated crops for vegetable crops, fruit crops, field crops, forage crops including among others: ion toxicity, managing, monitoring, leaching

Saline Agriculture "This is a set of interrelated projects aimed at improving agronomic production in saline environments. Included are projects studying the domestication of halophytes (salt-loving plants), the screening of cultivars for productivity in saline soils, the evaluation of agronomic practices for enhancing tolerance to salinity, as well as the investigation of the physiological basis of plant salt tolerance."

Salt Tolerant Crops OPUS covers several studies on barley, wheat and wildwheet, lentils. See in particular,

WildWheat "WildWheat grain, grown even in full-strength sea water is not salty. The total ash content is less than wheat or barley. The plant excretes the salt via salt glands, keeping the grain and the tissues low in salt content. This means that even the forage can be grazed by cattle without ill effects."

Background on Salt Tolerant Plants and Their Uses Excellent references Griffin Shay (1990) of the National Research Council has assembled an excellent little book, Saline Agriculture: Salt-tolerant Plants for Developing Countries, of which I was honored to help edit. This book has also been translated into Chinese. Aronson's (1989) Haloph, is also an excellent condensed listing of many halophyte species and was an inspiration to the present volume. Other listings of halophyte species can be found in FAO's Halophytes of Latin America and the World: their use with saline & waste waters and marginal soils which is in both Spanish and English (Yensen 1998); Halophytes of the Gulf of California and their Uses (Yensen 1999) is also in Spanish and English; Duncan's (1974) Vascular halophytes of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts; Macdonald and Barbour's (1974) Beach and salt marsh vegetation of the North American Pacific coast;

Kluwer Academic "Prospects for Saline Agriculture" 2002, 480 pages. $193.00 + shipping ($5.00, U.S. or $10.00 Elsewhere) "Saline land is a resource capable of significant production. Recent advances in research in breeding for salt tolerance in wheat, biotechnology in rice, and selection and rehabilitation of salt-tolerant plants are of economic importance in arid/saline conditions. This book gives some practical approaches for saline agriculture and afforestation, and describes examples of cultivating salt-tolerant/halophytic plants for commercial interest on salt-affected land or with highly salinized water in Australia, China, Central Asia, Egypt, Pakistan, and Russia. It also explores the possibilities of arid/saline agriculture and afforestation in UAE"

Rainwater Harvesting And Utilisation An Environmentally Sound Approach for Sustainable Urban Water Management: An Introductory Guide for Decision-Makers. The United Nations Environment Programme. Introductory Chapters: " Why should rainwater harvesting and utilisation be promoted? - The need for environmentally sound solutions, 3. General description of the technology, 4. How can rainwater harvesting and utilisation contribute to a sustainable water strategy?, 5. What must be considered from quality and health aspects in utilising rainwater?, 6. What must be considered to design and maintain facilities for rainwater utilisation? "

RainwaterHargesting.org How To Harvest: Case studies both rural and urban for India and internationally, along with treatment of traditions. CSE needs your help to create a nation-wide database (India) of Urban Rainwater Harvesting structures and practitioners, which can be accessed by all online (link to form).

Several of the many commercial units now available (recommendation is not implied):

EWA Technologies Group daily capacity from few tens of liters per day and up to 1,000 cubic meters. Company will be available at 2008 Water Asia Exhibition, Pragati Maidan Exhibiton Centre, New Delhi, India. PAVILION 156a
"Come to see us. Just tell us your needs, and we will provide the solution." home
"The EWA technology is based on capturing of the air humidity and releasing this humidity as liquid water. The EWA technology is composed of three main stages: 1. Adsorption of air humidity
2. Desorption of the absorbed water
3. Condensation"
"Only minor electricity consumption is required, while the required energy is heat energy. Combining of residual (waste) or solar heat sources allows producing water at a cost of about US$0.5/ cubic meter of water (based on US energy prices)."

Aqua Sciences
"Container models can produce up to 1,200 gallons of water per day for 7 days without outside electrical source or refueling. The 40 foot container with the reverse osmosis module can provide emergency water for up to 3,000 people per day. " 20 foot unit produces 500 gal per day. Diesel generator or off electrical grid.

Flood of gateways and portals on water hosted by IRC - International Water and Sanitation Centre - News and information, advice, research and training, on low-cost water supply and sanitation in developing countries.

Source Book of Alternative Technologies for Freshwater Augmentation in Latin America and the Caribbean UNEP - International Environmental Technology Centre, United Nations Environment Programme "...comprehensive inventory of technologies available in Latin America and the Caribbean for augmenting and maximizing the use of existing freshwater resources in order to assist water resource planners and managers, in both governmental and non governmental organizations and institutions, by providing them with information on different types of technologies." Unit of Sustainable Development and Environment, General Secretariat, Organization of American States Covers freshwater augmentation techniques including rainwater harvesting, fog harvesting, runoff collection, water conveyance, artificial recharge of aquifers, pumps), water quality improvement techniques (desalination, clarification using plants, disinfection, filtration), Wastewater treatment technologies. "The main objective of this project is to address the need of Asian planners for information appropriate to maximize and augment available freshwater resources using appropriate technologies. To achieve this objective, it is necessary to provide water resource managers with information on different technologies used within the Region to augment and maximize freshwater resources, and on specific experiences with these technologies from throughout the Region." Includes: water conservation and water conservation.

The Sourcebook of Alternative Technologies for Freshwater Augmentation in Africa International Environmental Technology Centre of the UNEP United Nations Environment Programme Division of Technology, Industry, and Economics in cooperations with the Institute of Water and Sanitation Development (IWSD) in collaboration with the Centre Regional pour L'Eau Potable et l'Assainissement a Faible Cout (CREPA), the Network for Water and Sanitation International (NETWAS) and the Training, Research and Network for Development (TREND) as part of the joint United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Water Branch and International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC) initiative..." Agricultural technologies, domestic water supply, and mining and industry with case studies

UNESCO Water Links Worldwide Extensive bibliography of articles and resources on water including: Climatic zones, Ecosystems land forms and land use, Extreme water events, Hydrological cycle, Irrigation and drainage, Water and society, Water quality and contamination, Water related processes, Water resources system, Water supply and sanitation, Water use

Below we present two distributors of treadle pumps not as recommendations but to show its use and availability.

Treadle Pumps for Irrigation in Africa Treadle Pumb Programme - International Development Enterprises (India). Impact, gender friendly, photos. "We facilitate the sale of different models of the treadle pump to small and marginal farm families in the eastern zone of India. Since inception in 1991, we have ensured the purchase of around 300,000 treadle pumps by small and marginal farm families. IDE (India) does not involve in direct selling. Rather, we ensure sale of our pumps through the private marketing channel comprising village-based distributors, dealers, mistries, government sales depots (in the case of Orissa) and even NGOs."

http://skipumps.com/malawipump.htm">Malawi Treadle Pump "The Malawi Treadle Pumps is a high capacity Treadle pump designed to lift water from shallow wells & surface sources. It can be operated by either one person standing on the wooden treadles or 2 persons standing on opposite sides of the Handle Assembly. "

SONO filter Developed by Abul Hussam. Widly distributed in bangladesh.
"...distributed 32,500 of the filters in Bangladesh, including to more than 1,000 schools. “We are beginning to see the effect of drinking clean water on patients being cured of melanosis and keratosis [skin ailments], and most people feel better,” he said. People are also more aware of the importance of clean, potable water."

Kanchan Filter Scaling up Successful Kanchan Arsenic Filter Dissemination from Nepal to Bangladesh, Cambodia and other Affected Asian Countries.
Three phases to study of filter: First phase: The laboratory study phase was successfully completed in 2006 by the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC) with support from the Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST) and MIT. The 8-week laboratory study showed that the KAF consistently removes over 90% arsenic, total coliforms, and E.coli from arsenic-contaminated groundwater near Phnom Penh. Another laboratory study found that the formation of red rust using small nails is crucial to the filter performance.
Low cost Shapla-arsenic filter "The filter consists of a 30-litre container filled with filter media: ferrous sulfate solution bonded to crushed brick particles. 20 kg of the media filters 4,000 liters of arsenic-contaminated water (at 0.3-0.4 ppm) reducing arsenic concentrations to undetectable levels and supplying an average family with 25-32 liters of safe drinking water per day."

UNEP.net Fresh Water Excellent access to many of the current problems regarding water worldwide with links to other major sites.

WPoA [not accessable when checked] Prototype of the World Water Portal. "The Water Portal of the Americas is a water information service, including an Internet web site and other initiatives to enhance the availability of quality water information." "...The purpose of the Water Portal of the Americas will be to improve access to information thus facilitating the decision-making process."

EREC - the European Renewable Energy Council - is an umbrella organisation of the leading European renewable energy industry and research associations active in the sectors of photovoltaic, wind, small hydropower, biomass and solar thermal.